By Emma Magnus.
The median value of a London property increased by £1,400 last year, whereas property prices across the rest of the UK rose by an average of £2,400.
It’s bad news for homeowners in London: house prices in the capital grew less than the national average last year, new research shows.
House price data from Zoopla shows that half of all UK homes increased in value last year, with the average property seeing a £2,400 uplift. In London, however, only 40 per cent of homes rose in value, with the median London property increasing by just £1,400.
London recorded the fourth-lowest house price growth of any region in the UK, after the east, south east and south west.
Zoopla’s research highlights a clear north-south divide, with 41 per cent of homes across the south of England falling in value by an average of £8,700. In the south, just 36 per cent of homeowners saw their property prices grow in 2024, compared to 62 per cent across northern England and Scotland.
This split reflects the underlying affordability of homes, with soaring mortgage rates and higher property prices in the south of England reducing buying power. In the north, where house prices are more affordable in comparison to incomes, there is more headroom for values to increase, despite higher borrowing costs.
House prices fall in prime central London
Across London, though, the picture is more varied. Homeowners in prime central London —the capital’s most expensive areas— saw the biggest drops in value. In Kensington and Chelsea, where property values fell more than anywhere else in the country, 72 per cent of homes fell in price, with an average reduction of £44,300.
This was followed by Westminster, where 67 per cent of homes declined in value, representing an average drop of £23,200. City of London and Camden saw similar slumps, with the average property value falling by £22,300 and £21,600 respectively.
According to buying agency Black Brick, the drop in prices across prime central London in 2024 is due to a combination of global and national uncertainties, high buying costs and a general air of caution. Forecasters for the coming year remain divided, with Savills anticipating that prices in prime central London will continue to drop by four per cent, and Knight Frank predicting growth of two per cent.
“Sellers are having to be very realistic and willing to sell at really big discounts in order to achieve a sale in the current market,” says Black Brick’s Camilla Dell. “London will come back and now is a great time to buy prime assets. We have been amazed by how much prime stock there is to choose from at the moment, and there are quite a few people who need to sell to the extent that they are willing to sell at a loss. Others have owned their properties a long time and so they are willing to be pragmatic about price.”
London’s winners
Some parts of London, however, fared better than the national average. Waltham Forest was the capital’s biggest winner, with 64 per cent of homes increasing in value —the eighth highest nationwide— and an average uplift of £8,700.
In fact, all five of the top-performing boroughs were in east London. Over 55 per cent of homes increased in value in Barking and Dagenham (+£5,000 on average), Hackney (+£12,900), Redbridge (+£6,800) and Havering (+£5,200).
With the exception of Hackney, these are among the most affordable places to buy a home in London: Barking and Dagenham has the capital’s lowest house prices, at an average of £336,000.
On the whole, more affordable boroughs —often in outer London— saw the biggest increases in value, while London’s most expensive areas experienced price drops.
Croydon, Greenwich and Enfield are three outliers in this respect, having lower property prices and yet still seeing the average house price fall by £900, £3,800 and £4,300 respectively. In Enfield, half of all properties decreased in value, while 29 per cent remained stable and 21 per cent increased.
“Inner London has the highest home values and higher borrowing costs have had a greater impact on buying power compared to outer London where home values are lower creating some headroom for small price increases,” says Zoopla’s executive director Richard Donnell.
“London has lagged behind the rest of the UK when it comes to house price growth since 2016 with the Brexit vote, pandemic and higher mortgage rates having a bigger impact on the London housing market. As incomes rise faster than house prices, affordability is slowly improving and there is growing value for money in the London housing market.”
Outside London
Outside of London, homeowners in the north west and north east of England saw the greatest rises in value, at an average of £4,400 and £4,300 on average. Berkhamsted, in the east of England; Carluke, Scotland and Waltham Forest recorded the country’s largest average increases in house prices, at £24,500, £8,900 and £8,700.
Conversely, Kensington and Chelsea, Broadstairs and Ferndown, all in the south of the country, experienced the greatest average decline in property prices, at £44,300, £15,300 and £14,400.
“The housing market returned to growth in 2024 but the pattern of home value changes across Britain is far from uniform,” says Donnell. “There is headroom for prices to increase in markets where housing is affordable compared to incomes which covers many parts of northern England and Scotland.
“In contrast, affordability is more of a constraint on price rises in southern England where the market continues to adjust to higher borrowing costs. Faster income growth is helping to repair affordability supporting moving decisions in 2025.”
But while house prices across the country are growing on the whole, experts predict that this may be short-lived, with upcoming changes to stamp duty.
“A slowdown in house price growth is in the post,” says Tom Bill, Knight Frank’s head of UK residential research.
“As sub-four per cent mortgage offers dry up and stamp duty rates increase in April, rising borrowing costs will suppress demand more noticeably from the second quarter of this year. As demand spreads into more affordable parts of the country, prices in these locations will remain relatively more buoyant.”
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